After a spell away from home consoles, Fire Emblem returned on GameCube with arguably it's most consistent entry yet
Intelligent Systems took all of their experience from making Fire Emblem and put it into this fantastic entry. The skill system is back after skipping the GBA titles and now every unit can equip/unequip and trade skills between themselves with each skill on a unit costing a certain amount of points and units being able to equip around 20 points worth of skills at once. It's the most freely engaging the skill system has ever been in FE and I love it. On top of that you can now forge weapons for a price and create some truly powerful weapons if your gold supply allows it.
The best new addition imo though is the bonus exp. Some maps will award you with more bonus exp if you achieve side objectives (like keeping all green units alive for example) and you can choose to award that exp inbetween maps to units, allowing others to catch up if you want to use them. It's great, it requires no grinding, and it's optional.
Speaking of inbetween maps, you now have a base segment where you can see additional conversations that flesh out the narrative, manage your equipment, award bonus exp, and forge and buy weapons. It's a great addition that gives the player much more control over how they prepare for the next battle and build their units. The conversations add character and story elements as well as sometimes reward the player with weapons or gold and it's such a good addition to the series.
Map wise it's solid. There's a few really good maps but it doesn't quite hit the highest highs of the series, moreso offering the most consistent experience of the series. You've got your defense and escape maps too, plus the bonus exp objectives to build upon the Fire Emblem standard
The story is also very solid here, focusing on a mercenary group with its main character Ike not being of noble birth allowing the series to bring in a new perspective. The themes of racial prejudice and division that Tellius has is also explored decently well and the continent itself is really well fleshed out with a multitude of nations all with importance to the plot and interesting characters. There's a scale here that while doesn't quite hit the size of FE4s scale, it does manage to stand out from most other FEs. The characters are really cool too, featuring some of my all time favourites with the likes of Ike, Mia, and Elincia.
FE9 also includes one of the most imposing villains in the series in the Black Knight. His presence whenever he shows up on a map is always intimidating. You can't possibly hope to beat him and he strikes fear as he begins to move towards the player. Having an imposing and memorable villain like that is very important. Ashnard is decent as well, showing how he manages to manipulate his own nation into starting a war to get what he wants and I quite like his role.
Another thing I love about FE9 is how good it's character portrait art is. The character designs and art are some of my favourite in the series and it always makes me smile seeing it again.
There's very little I can actually criticise about FE9. The game is very solid and executes everything near perfectly. The only minor gripe is that the voice acting during cutscenes is pretty bad but I wouldn't go as far as to hold that against the game when there are few scenes with voice acting.
Ultimately FE9 is the most consistent FE experience. It has solid mechanics and an interesting story without ever crossing into frustration like some other games in the series. Ike is an excellent protagonist and the Black Knight makes for a fantastic villain, and the themes the story explores are very interesting. It is a FE game that I can highly recommend without my own preferences or bias elevating it higher or lower than it probably should be
Intelligent Systems took all of their experience from making Fire Emblem and put it into this fantastic entry. The skill system is back after skipping the GBA titles and now every unit can equip/unequip and trade skills between themselves with each skill on a unit costing a certain amount of points and units being able to equip around 20 points worth of skills at once. It's the most freely engaging the skill system has ever been in FE and I love it. On top of that you can now forge weapons for a price and create some truly powerful weapons if your gold supply allows it.
The best new addition imo though is the bonus exp. Some maps will award you with more bonus exp if you achieve side objectives (like keeping all green units alive for example) and you can choose to award that exp inbetween maps to units, allowing others to catch up if you want to use them. It's great, it requires no grinding, and it's optional.
Speaking of inbetween maps, you now have a base segment where you can see additional conversations that flesh out the narrative, manage your equipment, award bonus exp, and forge and buy weapons. It's a great addition that gives the player much more control over how they prepare for the next battle and build their units. The conversations add character and story elements as well as sometimes reward the player with weapons or gold and it's such a good addition to the series.
Map wise it's solid. There's a few really good maps but it doesn't quite hit the highest highs of the series, moreso offering the most consistent experience of the series. You've got your defense and escape maps too, plus the bonus exp objectives to build upon the Fire Emblem standard
The story is also very solid here, focusing on a mercenary group with its main character Ike not being of noble birth allowing the series to bring in a new perspective. The themes of racial prejudice and division that Tellius has is also explored decently well and the continent itself is really well fleshed out with a multitude of nations all with importance to the plot and interesting characters. There's a scale here that while doesn't quite hit the size of FE4s scale, it does manage to stand out from most other FEs. The characters are really cool too, featuring some of my all time favourites with the likes of Ike, Mia, and Elincia.
FE9 also includes one of the most imposing villains in the series in the Black Knight. His presence whenever he shows up on a map is always intimidating. You can't possibly hope to beat him and he strikes fear as he begins to move towards the player. Having an imposing and memorable villain like that is very important. Ashnard is decent as well, showing how he manages to manipulate his own nation into starting a war to get what he wants and I quite like his role.
Another thing I love about FE9 is how good it's character portrait art is. The character designs and art are some of my favourite in the series and it always makes me smile seeing it again.
There's very little I can actually criticise about FE9. The game is very solid and executes everything near perfectly. The only minor gripe is that the voice acting during cutscenes is pretty bad but I wouldn't go as far as to hold that against the game when there are few scenes with voice acting.
Ultimately FE9 is the most consistent FE experience. It has solid mechanics and an interesting story without ever crossing into frustration like some other games in the series. Ike is an excellent protagonist and the Black Knight makes for a fantastic villain, and the themes the story explores are very interesting. It is a FE game that I can highly recommend without my own preferences or bias elevating it higher or lower than it probably should be